The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 2 (The Fallocaust Series) (31 page)

Garrett’s eyes were wide and his face holding a fear on it that made my muscles seize. I could see he was watching something, a video on his laptop.

“Gare?” I whispered. “What’s wrong?”

His green eyes shot to me before he shook his head slowly. It looked like he was having trouble breathing. I realized from watching Killian that he was almost going into a panic attack.

“L-Lycos…” he stuttered. “Killian is in great danger, Reno.” He turned back to the screen and at the mention of Killian’s name I quickly walked over. I sat beside him and felt a stir inside of my gut as Leo’s face was shown on screen. Older Leo, this was recent… possibly only weeks before he died.

Garrett, with a shaking hand, moved the video back before resting the same hand back over his mouth.

“I can’t believe…” Garrett whispered. “I can’t believe… Elish…”

“It’s over, Elish.” Leo stared at the screen. His face was hard and his hazel eyes even harder. I saw no cheerful mayor in front of me. I saw something more. Someone he had always hid from us.

“The plan is a failure and I’m putting a stop to it before it goes farther than it has to. I’ll not give you my son. I’ll not give you Killian either and, yes, I know you sent him here as a peace offering. I’ll not say I know all of your underhanded tricks but who’s to know.”

Leo rose and a moment later there was a swirl of whites and greys as he picked up the video camera. He walked through the hallway of the bunker, one I had just been in a few weeks ago, and opened the door.

The camera focused on a pathetic, sad sight. Perish was in a corner of the room, his rapid moving eyes focused on nothing yet staring intently at the same time. He was covered in blood and bruises and I could see a nasty road of stitches on the back of his head. He looked sick, like he was going to drop dead at any moment.

“Let’s make this a proper confession, shall we? Because I know once you realize what I have done, Elish, that you’re going to kill me,” Leo said acerbically. “But I don’t care, because it’s already too late. It’s done and hopefully before you realize what I did… Perish will be in Sky’s place. Silas will have Sky, he’ll stop killing our brothers’ lovers. You’ll have no reason to kill King Silas and no use for Reaver.”

What?

“I should’ve stopped this years ago. If I didn’t listen to my idiot husband I would have too.” Leo’s voice dropped. “But, either way, it doesn’t matter, I’m doing it now. I’ll not send my son on this stupid mission to kill Silas. I won’t risk Silas capturing him. You know more than any of us just what will happen to him if Silas finds out he’s alive.”

Garrett was silent beside me, looking green and in shock. I wiped my face with my hands and groaned.

Leo continued, “I’ve implanted Perish with Sky’s O.L.S. They are both identical twins and with that device in place of Perish’s own missing brain piece, I can make an even better replacement for Reaver. Silas will have Sky back, and your family will no longer have to suffer his insanity. All will be well and you will have no need for my son.”

“Holy fuck…” My mouth felt like it had filled with cotton. I tried to swallow through it but I just ended up feeling dizzy. “That wasn’t Perish’s own device? That was… that was Sky’s?”

The video paused and Garrett nodded grimly. He still had a hand over his mouth. “Reno, Lycos is an idiot. Perish and Sky were identical twins but… but it doesn’t work like that. I’m gravely concerned for Killian. An O.L.S isn’t some universal puzzle piece. Its synapses are different, it’s entirely different. If Perish has that electronic in his brain, it will drive him mad. He isn’t just going to all of a sudden become Sky, that is just some wishful, and incredibly ignorant, thinking. Thinking from some greywaster idiot who has watched too many Science Fiction movies.” Garrett rose, his face sweaty and his hands shaking. I realized as I watched him that mine were too.

“I need to go to Silas’s skyscraper and confirm this. If Lycos did get a hold of Sky’s O.L.S… we must warn Elish and Reaver. Everyone is in danger, mortal and immortal alike.”

My chest gave a sickening lurch. I tried to take a step but just found myself sinking back onto the couch. “How would Lycos even get a hold of Sky’s brain piece?”

“I’m not sure. It was supposed to be kept under lock and key, in the lower levels of Alegria.” To my surprise Garrett’s lower lip tightened. “My poor Silas… he will be just devastated when he learns this. That is the last remnants of Sky’s makeup that we have left. If something happens to it he’ll be devastated.”

I rose to my feet, feeling an all-consuming dizziness. “Let’s go… to the skyscraper. Now.”

Garrett nodded and before I knew it we were heading down the elevator.

My mind was a swamp, a fermenting pool that contained nothing but worries, each one trying to claw its way to the surface to fill my mind with a new wave of grim thoughts. I had so many worries in that moment, so many fears, I didn’t know which one to focus on first.

“What do we do if this is true?” I asked him. “You’ll help me if we have to go back to the greywastes, right?”

Garrett stared forward but nodded. “Yes, right now the immediate concern is Killian. Killian is alone with him, all alone. We don’t know where and we don’t know why Perish wants him,” Garrett continued. “Perish is essentially… an unstable bomb of radiation right now. One that could explode at any time.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Sestic radiation comes from born immortals alone. It’s a unique radiation that can erupt from a born immortal’s body; it’s how Silas started the Fallocaust.” I noticed he was starting to go green again. “Stress causes these outbursts, intense, crippling stress. If you poke the bomb enough times…”

“It’ll explode?” Another jolt of sickness.

Garrett nodded. “If Perish goes off, Killian will die immediately and anyone in a hundred mile radius will die of radiation poisoning. If he’s implanted his mind can easily become unstable enough to release it. We were sure he couldn’t access it anymore when his own O.L.S was taken out but… well, the part of the brain Greg removed was the same for both twins, chances are he has that ability again.”

I realized something. “What about Jade, isn’t he in danger too?” The car started to slow down as the driver neared Alegria, Silas’s skyscraper.

We both got out and started towards the glass doors, the thiens doing nothing to stop us. Once we were safe inside Garrett spoke. “The
boy
…” Garrett glanced around and I knew it was now unsafe to use their names. “Was never with
him
. The
other two
are nearing reclaiming him.”

A cryptic response but I knew I would hear the rest once we left. It turned out I didn’t have time to even think about it, quickly Garrett ushered me into a side elevator and pushed one of the lower buttons.

“Where are we going?” I whispered looking around the elevator we were in. Even Silas’s elevator was all fancy, with wood paneling on the bottom and some viney wallpaper on top.

“Basement…” Garrett said under his breath. “No one is here right now, well, no chimeras. Silas mentioned he was going back to the greywastes to search for Reaver. We’re safe.”

But still, even though he said we were safe, Garrett’s hand slipped into mine. I squeezed it as the elevator lurched to a stop.

The doors slid open and revealed a large finished basement in front of us. A clean, dark-themed room with maroon-coloured walls and dark grey trim, all surrounded by a black and grey marble floor. In its entirety the room was empty, save for a single day bed and a black wooden cabinet.

I paused and gave Garrett a quizzical look. He smiled sadly and pulled on my hand as we walked down the hallway.

“I was young… perhaps only twelve. I had heard from Nero he was down here so I came down, just wishing to request a fish tank to put my pet mice in. I walked through these very elevators and found him sitting alone. Holding in his arms this stuffed leopard. He was crying with it clutched to his chest.” Garrett’s eyes started to well. “When he saw me he leapt to his feet and as he did I heard a clunk as it landed on the ground. Do you know why?”

“It had the device inside of it?”

Garrett nodded. “I assume that was one of Sky’s possessions or perhaps something he had given to Silas before the Fallocaust. I never did ask…” Garrett walked over to the cabinet and put his hand on it with a sigh. “I was only down here once, but I always knew that whenever he was missing and we couldn’t find him, he was down here with the last piece of Sky he had, mourning him alone.”

My fiancé closed his eyes for a moment. He sniffed. “Reno, please believe me, Silas is not evil. He has a sadness in him… a deep sadness that age has calcified. He’s sick but he can become better in time. I love Elish; he is my closest brother and my best friend and I will never betray him… but I will not help him kill Silas and I will stop him if he ever tries.” He opened his eyes; they were so full of sadness. It made me think back to the conversation I had just had with Silas earlier that day.

Garrett looked at me. “I promise you, I will never let Silas have Reaver, but do not ask me to help them kill my master.
I love him
and I understand him. We love our monsters, Reno, both of us. And neither of us understand why the other one does, but we have learned to respect each other’s hearts.”

If you had asked me weeks ago, what I thought of King Silas I would have told you that he deserved a fate worth than death. For what we did to my best friends, my town, for what he did to Leo and Greyson, and the entire world.

If you asked me today… what I thought of King Silas Dekker…

I let out a long, drawn-out sigh; Garrett slipped his hand back into mine.

I would tell you I didn’t know what to think anymore.

“Will you tell Silas… if the brain piece is missing? That it’s in Perish?” I asked him. “It would mean Lycos had someone on the inside get it for him, possibly recently too.”

“I… no, it would put Elish and Reaver at risk,” Garrett responded. Slowly, like he was unsure and nervous about doing it, he opened the cabinet. “But… eventually I’d do it.”

I looked into the cabinet as it opened and saw, sure enough, a little stuffed leopard lying with several other stuffed animals. All of them were lined up on a single shelf, and below them some loose papers and pre-Fallocaust items.

Garrett reached out to pick up the leopard, his hands trembling and a bead of sweat dripping down his brow. With a hard swallow he grabbed it and I saw his eyes widen.

As if to make sure, he put a hand on top of the stuffed leopards head and felt around. There was a light rip as he opened up the back of its head.

He withdrew a small electronic device, the size of a pebble, but I could tell from Garrett’s face that it wasn’t the O.L.S.

“It’s gone,” Garrett’s voice caught. “It’s true. Lycos stole Sky’s O.L.S.”

I shook my head before glancing around the room. “I think the head honcho stole it for when he put the strands into Reaver. Lycos must’ve either stolen it from him… or it was given to him for safekeeping.”

Garrett took the leopard and put it back in the cabinet. His eyes shifting from one direction to another. He looked uneasy, and I felt uneasy.

“What do we do, Garrett?” I dropped my voice as we quickly headed to the elevator. “We need to warn…
them
.” Once we got into the elevator I dropped my voice. “We need to get Killian, and quickly.”

My fiancé’s face froze; his eyes fixed forward as he stared intently at the wall.

“Yes, yes we do,” Garrett said lowly. “First though I need to log into the security cameras to make sure they weren’t rec-”

Garrett froze midsentence as the elevator doors opened.

Jack was standing in front of the doors, his hands behind his back and his face holding a devious grin I didn’t trust. He stared at us as we gaped back at him in shock.

As Garrett tried to walk past Jack, the Grim put a hand on Garrett’s chest stopping him, then said with a smile. “Back inside, Garrett, back inside. Reno, push the blue button on top of the panel. We’ll be going for a ride to Silas’s apartments. He has some questions for you.”

Garrett took a step back and let Jack enter the elevator, the tension high in the air. The Grim folded his arms and stared forward, a smug smile on his face.

Then in a flash Garrett pushed me out of the elevator. I stumbled back and turned around surprised.

“Go back to Skytowers,” Garrett said quickly, blocking Jack’s path when the Grim tried to step out to grab me. Garrett’s other hand was rapidly pressing the blue elevator button. “Jack, he is not a part of our family yet, and as my cicaro he is free to leave.” His eyes shot to mine and I saw that he was serious. “I’ll handle this, love. Go.”

For a moment I was frozen on the spot, my body jamming as it fought with itself. I wanted to go back into that elevator and support my fiancé – but I also knew Garrett needed me gone for this conversation.

So I nodded and took a step back as the elevator doors closed on the two, before turning around and quickly leaving Alegria.